Ehecatzin

"I’m not saying I’m better than you…because it doesn’t need to be SAID at all.”

About:

Ehecatzin is the scion to centuries of Cloudsong culture and refinement: A member of that select nobility favoured by the Windsinger himself. From the moment he was hatched, he knew no life but luxury: Whatever he wanted, he got; whenever he wanted it, that was the deadline, no exceptions. Why and where and how one might complete these tasks, were questions he did not concern himself with: Those were intricacies for the lowborn to figure out.

He is particularly fond of clothes; only the finest Longneck-woven fabrics from Dragonhome could satisfy his tastes. He never throws any of them away, but neither does he give them out (to the common folk, no less!). If you walk in on him at the right time, you might catch him staring lovingly into his wardrobe, as though each robe were a portrait of an ex-lover, and he was remembering the stories behind each one.

History:

As soon as he’d come of age, Ehecatzin's parents shipped him off to the Wind flight’s best private school: Dominabitur Academy, in a grand castle deep in the Twisting Crescendo. Here he learned Draconian and Coatl-tongue, etiquette and flight cultures, with a smattering of combat training on the side. He hated physical classes, though, and always came up with some excuse to avoid dirtying his beautiful self.

When the time came for his gap year, the Coatl chose a clan-stay in Arcane. Out of all the flights he’d learned about, the Starwood Strand appealed to him the most. Something about those magical floating islands appealed to his own belief that he was literally, 'out of this world’. The Academy set him up with the Starseeker’s clan: Supposedly, they had a secret weapon that might actually take Ehecatzin down a notch. The secret weapon? Harmonia.

The Pearlcatcher didn’t turn away from his arrogance as most dragons did. Instead, she one-upped him with her own witty replies. As they exchanged comebacks and laughed over meals, Ehecatzin started to favour Harmonia over the rest of the clan. He would deliberately seek her out whenever he had questions, spoke to her in a softer, calmer tone, and left little gifts ‘from the deities’ at her door. Turns out, the way to a pretend-god’s heart is beating them at their own game. Someone just as quick-witted as you are, in other words. Although, if you ask Ehecatzin, he'll say that he highly prefers the term ‘worshipper’.

Weeks stretched to months and then to an entire year. Ehecatzin had completed his gap year, and would now return home for his honours year. Most of the Starseekers were secretly glad to see him go. But Harmonia met him just before he set off for home, pressing a letter into his talons and telling him to read it only after his graduation. Ehecatzin looked upon it with curiosity, but tucked it into his bags and flew off. Deities are, after all, above such petty temptations.

That’s what he told himself, of course, the whole way back. But if that was true, why did he feel a curious ache growing in his heart the closer he came to the border?

Honours year was just as busy as the lecturers said it would be. The letter was almost forgotten, pushed aside into the pile in favour of research tomes and dissertation scrolls. Ehecatzin had chosen to major in Interflight Relations, which involved an awful lot of moral dilemmas and quoting from faded old texts. It was a tough year for everyone, but the Coatl pulled through, scoring that sweet, sweet diploma at long last.

After spending 5 years of his life in a flying castle, he was now free to do as he pleased. He could return to his family’s clan, perhaps, but they already had a diplomat (actually, his name sounded an awful lot like the author of one of the scrolls he’d plagiarised…forget he said anything). He could go back to his old, pampered life, and no one would care that he was doing nothing productive at all. Then, as he was packing up his things, a very yellowed, battered letter fell out of the stack and landed at his feet. He picked it up, as the memories came flooding back, and cut it open, just as Harmonia had instructed.

There were just two sentences written smack in the middle of the entire thing. It said, “We’re hiring a flight ambassador. No experience required, just bring a diploma.”

Ehecatzin didn’t even think. He just bid his parents farewell and took off to the Starseeker’s clan.

Current job:

In a role befitting this mortal deity, Ehecatzin serves as the clan’s Wind flight ambassador. He travels between the Starseeker’s clan and their allies in Wind, representing both his clan to their allies, and the allies to his clan. With his extensive knowledge of Wind flight customs, he knows all the social cues and body language that other dragons might not notice; all the better to negotiate with whimsical Wind natives. Considering the long-standing rivalry between Arcane and Wind (the Battles for the Bay being a good example), his family name and trained charisma lend further credibility to his voice.